The Heavens of Olympus and Darkest Past

It didn't take long for the news of Ares' death to spread throughout Themyscira.

The last remaining of the Greek Gods no longer drew breath.

To say it was a surprise to all of the Amazons was an understatement.

At dawn, rumors were spreading like wildfire, it was known that only a God could kill another God, so who was responsible for it?

But Sentry wouldn't allow doubt to continue for much longer.

As he and his followers gathered at the Agora, a crowd of Amazons formed around them, just like it did when they first arrived.

Though this time, instead of fear and anger, a pleasant mixture of admiration and respect could easily be seen on their faces.

And if Sentry was being honest, a tinge of lust was also added to that mixture.

Not only for his children and generals, but for him as well. And this was without exerting control over the Law of Love.

"Greetings respectful women of Themyscira!" Sentry announced with open arms and a charismatic smile. "I'm sure most of you must be wondering about the unexpected news. I'm proud to announce that the miserable mission of your people has finally been accomplished. The god known as Ares won't ever threaten this world again."

Loud cheers were heard from the crowd of Amazons, but before they could start chanting his name, Sentry raised his hand in order to silence everyone.

"But I must be honest, it wasn't me that had slayed the fallen god." Sentry added, signaling with his hands for the most recent integrant of his Pantheon to step forward. "The great hero who has accomplished such a feat is your champion, Princess Diana!"

The Amazons resumed their celebration, now even more excited to be exalting one of their own.

Although Queen Hippolyta had finally arrived at the gathering, she was completely ignored in favor of her daughter as the small Diana walked forward.

As the princess joined Sentry and his people, he signaled for her with a nod, cueing her to reveal her new magical form.

While Sentry's transformation came with a massive lightning bolt after he spoke the word "Shazam", Diana's required a mere thought for it to happen.

Although her condition at first seemed to rely solely on her devotion for the pact she made with Sentry, it actually influenced her to remain loyal to him in similar fashion to how his enslavement inscription kept his Court of Shadows devoted to him without them even knowing.

As Diana assumed her new form and the nth winged armor adorned her body, she spread her wings to its full glory, startling her sisters and mother.

Even Sentry's children and generals were somewhat surprised.

"You see, in good faith with our alliance, I took the opportunity and gave the champion of your people my blessing." He explained. "With our people's blessings combined, your Champion achieved the necessary power to put an end to the despicable God of War."

Although his words were simple, the eloquence behind them was more than enough to influence everyone's mind.

By keeping the fact that Diana was a Demigod, the notion of him being capable of empowering someone with the necessary power to slay a god manifested among the Amazons, he now had basically declared himself as a God.

"Now, if I could be as bold as to suggest the Amazons a new purpose…" Sentry said, drawing everyone's attention. Instead of causing a knee-jerk reaction, he was greeted with an audience open to his proposal. "I say the Amazons should stop hiding from the outside world. Join me and my people, aid us to influence the hearts of people with love and restore peace."

"But we've already tried that route, and we were heavily punished and humiliated after our initial purpose failed!" Hippolyta suddenly spoke, in a tone one could mistake as harsh and hostile.

"I'm aware of the past, Queen of the Amazons. Your people were betrayed and enslaved while your Gods were still alive and ruling." Sentry replied eloquently. "And after you and your sisters freed yourselves from such dreadful fate, those same Gods saw fit to have you all hidden. Some could say even forgotten."

Hippolyta narrowed her eyes. "What are you implying?"

"I'm saying that your Gods treated your kind as a failed experiment. They created you for a reason, but after a segment of humanity proved too stubborn for it, have they assigned you another important duty? Besides guarding the gates of the Underworld and keeping the last Olympian prisoner, what glorious purpose were the great Amazons tasked with?"

"They gave us peace! A haven! Our Paradise!" The Queen replied, surprising the other Amazons with her tone.

"A Paradise?" Sentry questioned. "They gave you longevity, but I can offer you true immortality." He announced it to everyone as the Amazons he had resurrected after the recent tournament stepped forward, led by the finalist he resurrected in front of everyone. "They gave you slightly more resilient and durable bodies compared to mortals. I can offer you the power to face those same Gods." He added signaling to Diana, who stared at her mother with a cold expression.

"But… the Gods…" Hippolyta wanted to say something, but Sentry interrupted her.

By stepping hard on the ground, a noticeable earthquake was felt by everyone, and as he raised his hands with no struggle, all of Themyscira (including its surrounding islands and bodies of water) was raised from the ground.

The only ones not surprised by such a feat were his children and generals. Even Diana, who had heard and agreed with his intentions, was baffled by actually seeing it.

"Your Gods may have hidden you with an invisibility parlor trick, even clueless mortals could one day reach your shores." Sentry announced. "But I can protect all of you by bringing your Paradise to my own dimension."

Now hovering above them as a true God, Sentry ignored the stunned Queen and spoke to her people.

"I say we join forces and take the role now vacant by your Gods." He declared, turning to the small group of Amazons he had brought to life, giving them a fraction of the power he gave Diana. "Those of you who are worthy will be my Angels."

Each of those Amazons were empowered by his blessings and gifted with a version of Diana's armor made of Eighth Metal.

There wasn't room for discussion, even Queen Hippolyta wasn't capable of coming up with a reason why they should not accept his offer.

Every Amazon now inhabiting the new Olympus bowed to Sentry, all pledging themselves to his cause.

At that moment, a massive golden palace appeared in the middle of Themyscira. It was the very same palace that resided in his Pocket Dimension, with the Rock of Eternity as its core.

Despite their skill in battle, the Amazons were far from the competent army Sentry required them to be. So he tasked his generals and children to bring the Amazons to proper shape before becoming Angels.

As for his followers, he had blessings to bestow. But different from Diana, none had the blood of the Gods.

That didn't mean they were inferior, only that they would assimilate the Powers of Law in a different way.

Unless he spent another seat on his "Council of Shazam". But he still had other candidates that would be more benefited by such power.

Faora would be gifted with magical blessings just like everyone else, but to balance her raw power, he had bestowed her with the Law of Strategy he got from Athena.

Dots would receive Haephestus' Law of Crafting, since her cybernetic half was literally made of tenth metal and only required creativity to make inventions.

Valentina would receive the Law of Magic he got from Hecate (a minor Olympian goddess), which would help her progress much more smoothly through the mystical arts.

Teneca would receive the Law of Wisdom from Athena, which would be best explored given her mindset.

Rory would receive the Law of Sun from Apollo, giving her control over it and all of its influence.

Elizabeth would receive the reverse inscription, meaning she would have absolute control over the Moon and all of its influence from Artemis.

Luo would receive the Law of Hunting from Artemis, which would complement her fighting prowess and connection to the earth.

Masumah would receive the Law of Sky from Zeus, boosting even further the range of her meta powers.

Hadizah would receive the Law of Harvest from Demeter, making her capable of easily affecting the entire planet.

Eden would receive the Law of Blacksmith from Hephaestus, contrary to Dots she required the necessary tools and skill to achieve her goals, and an army of her own would be of great help to Dots.

Carina would receive the Law of Love just so she could better understand her own nature. Not exactly complementary to her meta powers, but still an undeniable boost nonetheless.

Koemi would receive the Law of Ecstasy, which would not only complement her personality, but also impart her elasticity with some flavor.

Zarola would receive the Law of Wilderness, which would greatly elevate her connection with animals, by giving her the ability to literally spawn life.

As for Aeliana, the one he felt would be the best option for such a wildcard would be the Law of Luck. Not something to be underestimated, just like her.

Indeed, although not as proficient with mastering the nature of Laws, his followers were definitely beneficiated by such blessings.

Other than the average resistance to magic, they also became much more resilient to regular methods that would've affected even Ultimate Kryptonians like them.

Though in their case, just like Diana, were simply borrowing a power that belonged to him.

Speaking of his Goddess of War, she would be assigned constant training sections with Faora, as the two pushed one another to improve beyond their current limits.

The only thing left for Sentry to do before he had his Angels making public appearances on Earth was to tamper with Hippolyta's memories.

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Despite not talking much about it, since acquiring the Speedforce from Barry Allen, Sentry had made a prisoner who was behind the biggest tragedy in Barry's life.

A certain time traveler who was stuck in the present.

The time criminal and speedster known as Eobard Thawne.

Or Reverse Flash, given the fact that there wasn't a scarlet speedster to oppose.

He was a literal paradox due to that outcome.

Time traveling wasn't a precise science, despite how many individuals claimed otherwise.

No matter how rational one's argument was to make their case, it was bound to have plot holes.

Similar to the problem with Decartes' "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am).

The statement by itself has nothing wrong with it.

However, in Descartes philosophy it is supposed to be the beginning of a reconstruction of all knowledge. His project starts from a hypothetical skepticism, then uses philosophical arguments to prove that our senses are reliable, and then proves more controversial theories about the nature of mind and matter.

Or at least he thinks that he has proved those things.

Descartes used his awareness of his own thoughts, which he cannot doubt the existence of, to prove that he existed, because he recognizes that he would have no thoughts if he wasn't there to think them.

But he never questions whether thoughts must necessarily belong to some thinker. He just takes that position for granted.

In reality, we have a concept of our "self" as something distinguished from the rest of the world. Descartes doesn't think that that's a distinction that we ever had to learn to make.

People are sometimes distressed when they read Descartes and find that his own way out of skepticism doesn't work, but really the entire exercise of starting from a position of absolute doubt doesn't make sense.

Descartes never *really* started from the position of rejecting everything he had ever learned.

The exercise did not fail, it never took place, because it can't take place.

If he can know that it's him that thinks, then he can know that he can distinguish himself from the rest of the world, and from a community of language users of which he is a part.

Either he does not know that he is an individual thinker with his own thoughts, or he can already recognize that there are other objects and people that he is distinct from.

That said, in the world that multiverse and gods were a thing, time traveling wasn't that far-fetched.

And if there was someone that knew a lot about it, especially after learning from such a defining mistake, was Eobard Thawne.

Fortunately, the dungeons on his pocket dimension were Speedster proof.

The last resident of those cells was a very sad and frightened clown.

But since there was no satisfaction in torturing the time traveler, Sentry had interrogated him using every method he had.

By the end of what felt like an eternity, for both parties, their discussion had ended.

And he was ready to change history.

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MC's POV

Jules Verne once wrote: "Put two ships in the open sea without wind or tide, it will come together."

That's how Aquaman's parents met.

Like two ships destined for each other.

His father, Thomas Curry, was a lighthouse keeper.

His mother, Atlanna, was a queen.

They were from different worlds.

But life, like the sea, had a way of bringing people together.

Or at least it would, have I not interfered.

Thanks to every piece of knowledge I got from a certain time traveler, I was finally confident to pull one of my greatest stunts.

Thomas Curry had received a very generous offer to live somewhere else, each possible ripple in time being dealt accordingly.

Not only was I the ultimate Kryptonian, with Magical Wisdom and Speedforce, but now had Powers of Law like Time and Luck.

Instead of being washed ashore unconscious near the lighthouse shores belonging to a humble human, the Queen of Atlantis met me, the supposedly long lost son of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, named Jason Prince.

My appearance belonged to someone much older than what Diana looked like, with darker hair and skin.

Atlanna fell in love with my caring heart and gentle personality without hearing about my supposed origin. Though the Law of Love was finally being put to good use.

Gotta admit, Atlantean women are hot, but also kinky.

You've seen the Queen swallow a golden fish with a gulp and Mera eat flowers like cotton candy.

Born in Amnesty Bay, Maine, to a lighthouse keeper "demigod", and Atlanna, the Queen of Atlantis, in homage to the hero that no longer existed, the "child" (that was also me) of the two was named Arthur.

With Jason's darker skin and Atlanna's pale hair, a clone of myself took the place as our son.

When I (Arthur) was still a child, our home was attacked by royal guards, who were sent to bring Atlanna back so that she could marry King Orvax.

While Atlanna and I (Jason) managed to fight them off, I (Jason) supposedly sacrificed myself to protect my wife and son.

Atlanna realized she had to return to her home and left me (Arthur) with a friend of Jason in order to keep me safe.

Before she left though, she imparted to me her trident as her legacy, believing me to be the key to uniting the Atlanteans and humans one day.

When I (Arthur) was 13, I decided to openly swim like an Atlantean would, and drew the attention of a man known as Nuidis Vulko.

He introduced himself as the Chief Advisor to the King of Atlantis, who began to train me in unlocking my "Atlantean abilities" so that one day, I could take my place as the rightful ruler of Atlantis.

Through the use of my Kryptonian physiology and vast arsenal of superpowers, I (Arthur) was successful in convincing Vulko that I was the most powerful Atlantean to ever exist.

Later in my life, I brought fish to feed the hungry, always coming into isolated towns and eventually joined the infamous League of Assassins.

Years before King Orm declared war upon the surface world, the man named Arthur Prince, now known throughout the underworld as Dark Knight, took action.

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Nanaue, also known as King Shark, was a metahuman who was allegedly a descendant of an "ancient shark god".

No knowledge recorded in either Solomon's wisdom or the Law of wisdom had corroborated the existence of such deity.

With Nanaue being a slow and monosyllabic dolt who simply wants people to think he's intelligent, many dismiss him out of hand as a savage mutation due to his taste for human meat and complete loss of self-control when he's hungry.

King Shark would've turned to crime at some point in his life, acting as hired muscle to others' crimes, if the Court of Shadows hadn't approached him with a proposal similar to the one Waylon Jones and Matt Hagen got.

While King Shark was relieved from his mutation and given an honest life on the surface, his powers were studied and passed on to another.

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Jesse Hyde was an autistic youth who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and loved to play by the sea.

As a youth he was kidnapped and forced to work on a ship for many years.

At one point he sighted a group of Atlanteans and tried to signal them for help, but was not rescued.

Finally, he was forced to defend himself, killing one of his tormentors on the ship with a knife.

Hating the emotionless sea, the boy was determined to become its master.

Placed into an institution for his mental "affliction," the boy was treated cruelly by his attendants.

Jesse experienced being immersed in water as sublime ecstasy, while the softness of the cotton sheets of his bed bore for him excruciating pain.

The attendants would strap him to the bed anyway, and to stifle his screams of pain, they would smother him with pillows until he passed out.

Jesse could barely speak, usually repeating a few words, such as "love swim."

The doctors began performing experimental treatments on the boy, experiments that seemed to cause him pain.

One of these experiments was successful enough that he became able to speak in complete sentences.

Using his newfound ability to seem normal, the boy put his doctor at ease enough to unstrap him.

Afterward, the boy used the syringe used to help him speak to murder the doctor and escape.

The boy went on to have himself a life, but was never able to forget his promise of mastering the seas.

As an adult, Jesse Hyde lived with his son, David Hyde, on a houseboat, earning some reputation as a diver and a treasure hunter. But also as a mercenary, leader of his own pirate crew.

Jesse researched the atlanteans and wanted to someday encounter them.

After his gang took over a submarine, as they were celebrating their apparent victory, Jesse presented his son with a special knife.

Initially, David scoffed at it, calling it a piece of junk, and the love of his father's life; but when Jesse lied to him about how it belonged to his grandfather, who fought in World War II as one of the Navy's first "frogmen" (code-named "Manta" for his stealthiness), he immediately changed his mind, and accepted the blade.

Suddenly, they were contacted by several ninjas, before they were known throughout the underworld as The Court of Shadows.

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MC's POV

The Court of Shadows was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.

Not only had my organization successfully been hunting down and killing people deemed a danger to society and the world at large.

Like the start of the career of Kira from Death Note, my organization's existence was merely expeculated by conspiracy theorists.

Despite our boldness, the product I got from the ancient immortal assassins and zombies talons permitted my agents to remain an urban myth without shying away from accomplishing their mission.

An urban myth capable of covering entire streets with blood mind you.

But with Wayne Enterprises making astounding progress to humanity and the Pantheon of True Gods consolidating its powers, the Court of Shadows was the next to go through a significant boost to its power.

With Wayne Enterprises providing it with technology and resources that would take decades to be released to the public market, its agents were undoubtedly the deadliest in the market.

After nonstop training with the best of the best while supplemented with gear and the super soldier serum, Talia Al Ghul was finally worthy of receiving the blessings of a god.

The Law of Death suited her tremendously well. Especially where I was planning to take my Court of Shadows.

Besides the agents she commanded for me, she had our elite death squad, the best professionals on the planet.

And that was before joining the Court of Shadows.

Sandra Wu-San, aka. Lady Shiva. Her hobby before joining the League of Assassins was hunting down the best fighters in the world and beating them to death with her bare hands.

A deadly assassin and one of the preeminent martial artists on the planet. She had combined many moves and elements from numerous martial arts including a few forgotten ones to create a combat form that matched her own strengths.

Which included Dim Mak, an ancient form of martial arts where one stroke vital points of the opponent's body causing paralysis, intense and prolonged pain or death.

But also very adept with medical knowledge, Shiva could heal as deftly as she could harm.

Being very literate in body language. She could often predict what an opponent will do before they do it and better plan her attacks this way.

Sandra could also control her nervous system enabling her to deaden her body to physical pain, control her emotions and even control her bleeding rate.

Next was Bane.

He was intimidating, brutal, violent, powerful, and used his brute strength, ruthlessness, and cunning in order to win battles.

Cruel and very confident in his strength, he was not above using trickery and power to achieve his goals, and has proven to be able to think of somewhat intricate plans that would've ended up taking out all his opponents.

The super soldier serum Wayne Enterprises had created was naturally superior to the Venom he was used to.

Not only did it boost his physical abilities several times compared to the Venom, but it also boosted his intellect.

Best of all, he didn't require any more of it after the first dose.

In similar fashion to Bane, Slade Wilson, known as Deathstroke, was also greatly benefited by such enhancements.

Better part of it, he now had two eyes. Which only served to boost his already natural gift for combat.

Although not as strong as Bane, his agility certainly made it up for him. Moving so fast that one could mistake him for a blur.

Flyod Lawton, aka Deadshot, the firearm specialist of the group.

His innate ability to "never miss a shot" was expanded to throwing any projectile with great unerring accuracy and deadliness.

Now armed with the uncanny ability to use virtually any common object as a lethal projectile, made him just as dangerous as characters who did have superhuman powers like Bane and Deathstroke.

Which didn't mean Deadshot wasn't granted the super soldier serum.

As for the Arrow, aka the young billionaire known as Oliver Queen, despite his great usefulness in battle, where he shone the most was as a successful CEO of his family company and loyal partner of Wayne Enterprises.

Which didn't imply the team didn't have its own archer.

In fact, the Dark Archer, aka Malcolm Merlyn, was the perfect substitute for the Arrow.

Not only had he resumed his learning path, but was the one with the capacity of wielding magic.

Being before highly trained in the art of stage magic, including sleight-of-hand, escape artistry, and hypnotism, Malcolm's skills in these areas were one of the reasons he was called "The Magician" by the League of Assassins.

His skills as a hypnotist also allowed him to retrieve lost memories via hypnotic-regression therapy and better interrogate hostages.

Malcolm was aware of the existence of magic and mysticism, knowing the existence of the Lazarus Pit, so the brief introduction to actual magic was all it took to set him on the right path.

These five were the main Death Squad.

Which only left Ravager and the two newcomers.

David Hyde would become Black Manta, a loyal servant of the Court of Shadows.

With his training just starting, he received an improved version of Nanaue's mutation.

Although not resembling a giant humanoid shark, Black Manta had gained traits that would put him on par with the toughest of Atlanteans.

Being capable of surviving on both land and sea, he could instantly generate claws and fangs (razor sharp able to slice through an Atlantean's armor and flesh) while also swimming at superhuman speeds, having enhanced vision and hearing.

His raw strength and overall agility were slightly inferior to both current versions of Bane and Deathstroke, but in a deep ocean environment he certainly was the superior fighter.

And his suit helped even the odds on land.

The other newcomer was Lady Shiva's daughter.

Born with the assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva as her parents, she was trained to become the perfect warrior.

Her father deprived her of speech so she would learn movement and physicality as her first language.

This also caused her brain to develop learning functions different from most, a form of dyslexia that hampers her ability to talk, read, and write.

Conceived and trained from birth with the intention of creating the perfect bodyguard for Ra's al Ghul.

After many unsuccessful attempts to train children from birth in martial arts to make them inculcate it like a native language, a member of Ra's League of Assassins, decided the right genes were necessary to create this "Who Is All".

Awed by the potential heights she could reach in her physical talents, Sandra agreed to Cain's bargain in order that she might one day go on to become the unstoppable force of nature known as Lady Shiva: creator and destroyer.

Shiva's hope for her child was that she might one day grow to be the force that could stop her possible reign of destruction.

When she was 8 years old, Cain decided his experiment had progressed far enough for him to test Cassandra's abilities in the real world and took her to a hit; the target being Faizul, a 'bookman' in Macau.

At the time Cassandra had no idea what she was doing and believed it was only a game.

But after striking a deathblow, she "read" the target as he died, and saw death as he saw it.

In addition to scarring her emotionally, she realized murder, like her father's profession, was wrong, and she ran away.

Cassandra spent the next nine years homeless, guilt and fear ridden as she traveled the world.

Entering Gothic Metropolis at 17, Cassandra came to be one of my agents after I convinced her of my organization's meaningful mission.

The fact that I allowed her to take her father's life helped seal the deal.

Though she and Sandra had not spoken since her initiation.

The super soldier allowed her to correct her weaknesses like Illiteracy and Over-Reliance on Body Reading Ability.

She and Ravager bonded together like sisters.

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(05/08/2021)

*Hope the chapter is of your liking. If there's anything that you wish to ask, feel free to do so.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the plot points I'm introducing.

If there's any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

** Really sorry for the constant delays, I'm still having a hard time organizing my time to write my fics. 😅

*** Please, tell me your opinion about this fic's current cover picture. I was aiming for something better than the previous one.